I NEED an Adventure!

Oh, what to do, where to go? January is here, and it is time to get back out in the world and start shooting again. It feels like it has been forever since I have picked up my camera. well, I was able to get out in December to shoot. First, we led our final trip of the season to Tiger Beach and Bimini, Bahamas, for tigers and great hammerheads. Then I was invited/hired to co-host some shows for an upcoming Nat Geo Wild show, with an air date of which I have no idea? Sometime in 2021. So I got to go back to the Bahamas for that shoot, which was fun and kept me busy almost all of December. While on the film shoot, I did not get to do much with my camera because I was working, but I found a few windows for it and took advantage of the opportunity.

Yellow throated warbler. I have been searching for the Bahamas warbler, which is similar to this species, but not the same. the hunt continues.

I spent the final week of December hanging out with family and really not doing much else. I put the camera away and used the holiday season to off-gas from social and marketing and just played around. But that is over now, and I am itching to get back out, find some wildlife; film, photograph, and write about it. I genuinely enjoy documenting this journey that I am on, whether it be videos, photos, or writing, especially writing. Sharing the adventures with you all is one of my great passions in life.

I’ve been keeping journals since my early 20s. It started in high school for me; I collected quotes that I would find which inspired me. Later I began documenting my thoughts and my journey. Still have them all put away in a box, which are kept in storage, some are 30 years old. Yup, I said it, 30 years. 2021 marks the year that I turn 50. Damn, where does the time go? Having all those old journals is fun, it allows me to go back in time and visit with the crazier, more full of himself, naive younger me. Every once in a while I do find some gems there.

Since I am hitting the big 50 this year, I want to make it an epic one, filled with adventure, regardless of the mess our country and the world is in. There is always magic out there, you just need to find it.

Sadly, we do not have any scheduled SDM trips planned for January, but I am itching to get my camera and head out for the first adventure of the new year. I have a few ideas of where I want to go, and once I set them up, or get there, you guys will know as well. The plan is to write and share as many blogs and vlogs as I can this season, documenting what I believe will be an interesting year as we navigate through our new normal.

View fullsize

The cool thing is, since I am wildlife junky, it can be anything; from sharks to birds. That is the beauty about having a full blown addiction to wildlife and wild places. I get fired up about documenting it all. So maybe while I plan out the upcoming trip, I may just go and photograph some local wildlife, like whitetail deer. Sadly I missed the rut again, damn it. I have been itching to document a rut. Been talking about it for the past two seasons, but I missed it again. It was a good reason this time, filmed a TV show with other wildlife instead. But this is my year to do it. Come November / December 2021, I am going to film that rut.

Until next week’s blog my friends, with a story or more info on our first adventure of the new year. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you out in the world… somewhere… anywhere.

Final Blog for 2020!

2020 has been a crazy, crazy year. Not sure what to think of it. All I know is we made it through to the end, and despite having to cancel quite a few trips, we still managed to run 11 expeditions (thank you, Mexico). Not all were in Mexico, but we ran half of them there.

Sadly we had to reschedule quite a few of our trips this season; sperm whales off Dominica, Tonga humpbacks, Mountain gorillas, orcas off Baja and Norway, and polar bears off Churchill.

But we did managed to run these trips this season;

Tiger Beach (Bahamas) - January
Threshers (Malapascua Phillipines) - February
Orangutans (Borneo) - February
Grey Whales (Mag Bay, MX) - March
Makos (Cabo San Lucas, MX) - March
Whale Sharks (Isla Mujeres, MX) - July
Croc Diving (Banco Chinchorro, MX) - July
Tiger Beach (Bahamas) - October
Striped Marlin (Mag Bay, MX) - November (2 Trips)
Tigers/Great Hammerheads (Bahamas) - December

I am not making light of what has happened with covid, it has been a heartbreaking year, and many people have lost loved ones. But this year has also taught us a lot. Especially how to take better care of ourselves, appreciate our freedoms, and be extremely grateful for everyone in our lives that matters and everything we do have. 

Financially the year was filled with uncertainty, and many companies struggled with keeping the doors open. We were one of those companies. Tourism got hit hard, and if it wasn't for my Dad and my brother's help, giving me some work during the downtime, I am not sure how the year would have finished for us. I know I would have found a way to make something happen, but working for MJ Masonry made life much more breathable for us. So a shout out to my family for the help. Love you guys. 

Despite the lack of travel, we stayed busy, and the year went by in a crazy blur. Now we are days away from the beginning of a new year. Thankfully we are here, SDM’s doors are still open, and we feel rejuvenated, and excited to continue taking our friends to encounter wildlife around the world. If I was asked one word to describe how I felt about this year, it would be 'Gratitude.' I feel so grateful for everything in my life; family, career, my health, all of it.

I have been running trips for 17 years, and I have always felt lucky and blessed that my job is also my passion and hobby. If I was not doing this for a living, I know I would be working, saving every penny to travel - seeking out as many wild animals and places that I can experience in this lifetime.Wildlife is basically my obsession and what I think about. Well, I also think about cameras and photography, but I am passionate about cameras because I love capturing videos and stills of animals we encounter. 

I guess you can say I am on a high right now and very excited about the new year… I know that the flipping of a calendar page will not automatically reset things back to normal. There is still so much uncertainty in the world. But thankfully, there is daylight in sight, and I am fired up and in love with the future. 

So with that, I will end my blog by giving thanks; thank you for being a part of our journey. Thank you for watching our videos, reading our blogs, sharing and liking our images, and especially for joining us out there on our adventures. We are incredibly grateful to you all.

We love you guys and wish you all a fantastic new year filled with love and adventures. 

New Trip Report is up!

I am so behind on blogs and trip reports, and videos. So crazy how fast time flies sometimes. It is freaking December already! I am working on ideas for the 2021 season, regardless of the covid craziness sweeping the world. I have plans to maximize my time out there to share what is happening in our world. I used this year to soul search, to try and find myself and I am working on becoming a better human being. I am still failing hard at it, and I have a long way to go with a lot of fences that need major mending, but I am on a good path right now, excited for the future. I am constantly learning and still have so much to do to fix as much of it as I possibly can, but I have plans to fix it all.

Anyway, off my therapy soapbox, and the reason for this blog… I just finished our trip report for our Tiger and Great Hammerhead Expedition that I just came back from. Of course I still have not written up so many of our other trip reports from earlier this season, but I decided to get this one up and move on to working on the next one. I was motivated to get it done, because I am super happy with the images from this trip. We had such great moments and I was able to grab the journal notes and share them with you all on the report.

Click here to read it… hope you enjoy.

New Video is up on our Youtube Channel

Well it took a while but I finally cut together a new video. This one was so that I could put it on our expedition page to promote our trips and the different types of wildlife we encounter. I am super happy to say, I really love how it came out. I had been wanting to experiment with more sound on my videos and was really pleased with the finished product. From the song I chose, to the pace of the reel, so some of the natural sounds you would expect to hear when on location. I wanted to pull our viewers into the video, and have them feel something, not just watch it… but truly feel it.

So if you will indulge me, when you watch it, - Go full screen on a laptop or ipad, plug in ear phones, turn it up and watch it, that way you can get the full effect of what you are watching. I would absolutely love your comments on this when you watch it, truly interested in hearing what you think. Hope you enjoy.

Wild and Exposed Photography Podcast

Hey guys, wanted to share with you a podcast interview I recently did with the crew at Wild and Exposed. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my time visiting with the guys on the show. I have been listening to them for quite a few years now, so it was an honor having the opportunity to visit with them. Super pumped that after the show we chatted about doing some shooting together, possibly this winter around Yellowstone. Which is their home turf. Photographing Bison in the snow has been a dream of mine forever, so I am looking forward to that opportunity. Please check out their website, subscribe to their show (you wont regret it), and give them a listen… especially the episode with me in it.

Night Photos of Green Parakeets

Decided to visit one of the best local spots for a shot at photographing green parakeets. There is a spot, that these birds have been roosting at for years. Every night, huge flocks of birds gather to roost in the trees of a popular shopping center, in a very busy part of town, near where I live. It is mostly great-tailed grackles, sparrows, doves, some other species of black birds, and  of course, the main reason for my visit, green parakeets. For our local bird lovers, this spot truly is a must visit. Looking back, it has been about four years since I had last been here, I was just super busy traveling. But I have time now, and it is so great that the birds still use this spot to sleep, which means, they feel safe here.

View fullsize

I arrived around dusk with the sun dipping low in the sky to try and capture some images of the parakeets with what was left of the blue sky. I was hoping for a setting sun in the background shot, but that proved more difficult here. When I arrived, I went straight for a tree I know they visit a lot. It is a big old tree, right in the middle of the parking lot. I parked next to it and stepping out of the vehicle, and right away,  I could hear the squawks. Green parakeets are noisy birds. In the tree, were two groups of about 10 birds in each family. They were wrestling and arguing, biting and yelling at their neighbors, hoping around, just being birds. 

View fullsize

great tailed grackles

As soon as I walked under the tree, their attention turned towards me, watching me closely, and I instantly noticed, the chattering got louder. The birds kept eye-balling me, which was great for fun photo ops. My favorite part about photographing birds here is they are used to seeing people, so they do not fly off right away when people approach. They don’t let you get that close to them, but if you have a 400mm lens or better, you will get some decent images.

I snapped a few shots and then took off to another spot across the street in another parking lot where they gather before it gets dark. At this spot, the birds are high up, sitting up on the power lines, fighting, squawking, socializing. I enjoy watching them. It started out with about 15 birds, then as the sun dropped some more, like clockwork, more birds arrived, then more birds, until over 100 parakeets were above me, on the power lines. It is always fun to watch. I spent more time watching them, vs taking pictures,  because I am not a fan of birds on structures, I prefer natural looking environments.  So I watched them for a good 10 minutes, then all of a sudden all the birds took off, squawking loudly, and I knew why…

High up in the sky, a raptor flew by, obviously trying to catch one last meal before it got dark.  All the parakeets in the area were in the air, flying erratically in many large groups, trying to confuse and annoy the raptor into leaving. After a minute or two, the raptor grew tired of the parakeets and flew off. The parakeets returned to the trees and high wires, still chattering away.  I am sure they were all gossiping about how they came close to dying, but despite the fear, they drummed up the courage and bravely chased away this big dangerous bird. lol

My personal goal for this photo session was to snap some close up images of the birds, once it got dark. The birds tend to roost in short trees, that are close to the buildings. So it is easy to get some decent shots of them if you have a strobe, which of course I brought. I have not done any night shooting since our Borneo trip, earlier this year, when we could all still travel, so I was pretty pumped to break the strobe out again. I miss night safaris. 

Once it got dark I walked around the parking lot, looking for my photo subjects, which are pretty tough to find… green parakeets, hiding in green leafed trees. Yup, hard to find. As I walked around, the noise was deafening, all around me was the sounds of thousands of birds bedding down for the night. It is such an awesome sound. Damn I missed this. Felt so good to be out there and shooting. Even though I was in the city, it felt so good to be around wildlife again. The one thing that has come from this craziness is, I will never, ever take for granted any moments I get with nature, big or small. It is easy to forget how special and fragile, this all really is.

So back to my photo hunting… I found a few birds and began shooting. Because I was shooting flash, I would only snap a few images of the resting birds at a time, and then would leave them alone, and go off to find other birds. I didn’t want to annoy them too much, or force them to fly off. I purposely looked for birds resting in trees, that were underneath the street lights. So it wasn’t pitch black, and the light helped me find them, without needing a torch, plus it meant that they were not too disturbed by my flashes. I stayed shooting for about an hour, watching and listening, and sometimes snapping images. I would get the occasional odd stares from people driving by, trying to see what it was I was photographing. I just ignored them. 

Even though this area is in a busy parking lot, I still love it. The sound of thousands of birds roosting in those trees, squawking away is poetry to my ears, and the stuff I love more than anything. I truly feel lucky that this spot is near where I live, and that I was able to spend some time with these lovely, goofy birds. And, I am happy that after ALL these years, the birds are still there and hopefully… will be there for years to come. 

Thank you for reading!

My Top Ten WIldlife Moments / Memories

These are my top ten moments / memories with wildlife. I have had countless moments that stand out and are special, but these are the ones that truly stick out in my mind’s eye and are very special to me… I don’t have them in order, or moments that I see as the greatest moment of my career. They are all special and stand out for me for many different reasons.

---

# 10. Today’s favorite moment is anaconda diving in the Pantanal Brazil (Sept. 2018). Being in the water with this iconic and mysterious creature is something I will never forget. For such a long time I had dreamed of this moment, and it almost didn’t happen for me. I first blundered with screwing up, and not getting my visa for Brazil and lost out on going that season. The following year, we got out there and there was a freak cold front that moved through the area and the snakes were not active. Finally on day four of a five day trip, the sun came out and we found our anaconda. A big 4 meter snake. She was sleeping by the river, sunning herself, and we were able to get in the water and spend time with this beautiful animal. Talk about emotionally overwhelming for me. It truly brought me to tears. Seeing her in the water, seeing our guests with her, it was too much. I lost it. Truly one of my best days in the water.

View fullsize

View fullsize

---

View fullsize

# 9. Encountering our first true wild orangutan. We were on our final day of safari at Dermakot Rainforest, Borneo (Feb. 2020), and we had yet to find any wild orangutans here. We had encountered them at the orangutan rehab center and those orangutans were wild, but they were habituated to people and very relaxed.

So while on safari in Dermakot, we were driving around seeking out wildlife when I spotted something big orange and hairy sitting on the forest floor in the shadows of the trees. I excitedly told our driver to back up, but our guide said it would be faster to jump out of the vehicle to try and snap some images before it ran off. With the truck engine turned off, we could already hear our orangutan trying desperately to climb a tree and get away from us. We all jumped out and ran to the side of the road, our feet deep in the mud, it constantly rains here. We could hear it, but couldn’t see it yet.

Finally, through a break in the leaves, up in the tree, a hand emerge as it reached for the higher tree branches to pull itself up and into the clearing, it was a massive male orangutan. We were all on fire. It kept climbing up the tree and finally we could see the body of this giant ape. He looked down at us as he kept climbing. Then he turned and reached for some branches from another tree to swing across. And there he was… straddling between two trees, peering down at us, this forest king…a massive dominant male orangutan. He was our first for the trip, the other orangutans we had encountered were females and juveniles. He then let go of the first tree and disappeared into the leaves of the second. What was left were smiles on all our faces as we listened to him crashing though the forest, as he made his way deeper in. We were all on fire from the encounter, it lasted only seconds, but I have no doubt that it will be forever etched on all our minds.

---

# 8. My first encounter swimming with wild alligators in the swamps of Florida. This was one of the coolest and also a really intense day spent in the water with big animals I have experienced. My buddy Chris Doherty and I, were invited to join our friend, gator expert Chris Gillette for a day of seeking out Florida wildlife in one of Chris G’s favorite swampy spots. Talk about intense, visibility is not the best there and when you are seeking out animals like wild alligators in murky conditions, the pucker factor is high. We found ten different gators that day I believe? Which was epic as hell.

View fullsize

During one encounter, one of the bigger alligators we found was laying motionless on the river bottom. For a few minutes, it allowed us to drop down to snap images of it. But I guess it got bored and decided to move on. As it started to move, I could see that it was swimming directly at me and Chris D. I started trying to back swim to get out of his way, using my hands as paddles, and I grabbed what I thought was a branch on the side of the swamp, which turned out to be Chris D’s calf. I used it to help push me back, and it worked, BUT It also moved Chris D forward and directly into the gators path, which sent Chris into panic mode as he was now moving directly at the approaching gator. Thankfully the gator had zero interest in us and ducked down and moved on to quieter waters. It was a great close up encounter, and I smile every time I think about it. However, I have a dive buddy who constantly reminds me of how I tried to feed him to the alligators. Lol Easily one of my favorite days in the wild.

---

#7. Encounter with an 11 foot mako off Southern California, during our TV show shoot of Blue Water Savages definitely stands out as one of my all time favorite memories. So little was and is known about monster sized makos. It was rumored that once a mako reaches a certain size, that they feed exclusive on marine mammals and are therefore un-diveable. I wanted to find out if this was true. I had no idea what to expect, as the biggest mako I had encountered before this guy was only 7 feet long, this was new territory for me. The pucker-factor was through the roof.

I was the first one in the water and as soon as she saw me, she swam straight for me. She swam up and I held my camera in between us. She was going to test bite the camera, but I didn’t want her to scratch the dome port, so I put my hand on top of her head and guided her away. she winced from my touch, but she didn’t leave. She swam around us, curious about us, but never aggressive. I don’t know how all big makos act in the water, but our mako was a complete sweetheart, and we spent almost an hour with her in the water before we had to get out to finish filming the episode. What a dream and an honor it was to be in the water with such a rare and massive animal, I was truly humbled. What also highlighted the moment even more for me was having my son, David in the water with me during that shoot. A dream day!

With our producer Robin, he is 6’-5, so a great size comparison for our mako.

---

# 6. Encounter with a juvenile blue whale off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Went out for a fun day with buddies to try and chum up some sharks, but instead of sharks, we found a juvenile blue whale. We decided to scrap the idea of chumming for sharks, and spent the day trying to snap a few images of this amazingly massive animal. Dropping down and sharing the water with the largest mammal in the world is forever in my soul. What made it even more special was having Dave Valencia snap a shot of me with the whale. Proof that I was there.

---

View fullsize

#5. on my all time favorite moments with wildlife... watching this baby humpback whale rolling and dancing with my girls, Sophia and Maritza,  just a few feet away from them, off Ha’apai, Tonga.

Baby humpbacks don't realize how big they are, and this one was very interested in my Sophia and was coming in close to check her out. It was slapping around it's huge flippers. I was torn between swimming over to protect my girls from this friendly whale that was getting closer and closer to them, or to just continue trying to take pictures of this encounter. Well, my desire to snap some images of my girls won over... I mean, I NEEDED images of this to share of this special encounter. And thankfully my girls are alive and well. But I do admit to having a bit of a panic attack for a fleeting second when this big baby got too close to my baby.

---

# 4. Passing the torch. One of my favorite moments/experiences with wildlife has been watching My boy David embrace this shark diving world and becoming a shark feeder as well. It makes me proud as hell to see him feed sharks. But ain’t gonna lie, even though I am a feeder, it also worries the shit out of me. I remember the first time I gave him the bait box to feed one of our resident tigers at Tiger Beach. It was all going well, nice and mellow - then one of the other shark boats left, and ALL the sharks they had, instantly showed up at our boat, and they all went right up to the box... man I swam so fast, jumping in front of him. David was looking at me with frustrated eyes, as I was pushing him out of the way. He was trying to let me know, “I got it, I am ok.” And I have no doubt he would have been fine, But my parental instincts kicked in regardless, and I was pushing away sharks, screaming in my head, “get away from my baby!” 🤣. We still laugh about that.

---

#3. of my all time favorite/memorable experiences with wildlife. Dancing and rolling with sharks. The highlights of my shark diving career will always be what I have learned from sharks when they choose to interact with me. Rolling tigers, giving lemons back rubs, learning new behaviors from great hammerheads... all these things are truly special and moments I will cherish forever.

Some of the things I have learned from them are firsts, which is so rare in the world. Definitely the first to roll tigers, which truly is a dream knowing that I helped pioneer new ways to interact with these animals. Was it necessary… no it wasn’t, but learning how animals behave and helping to change how sharks are viewed by the general public is something that I am very proud of.

---

#2. of my all time favorite/memories with wildlife... our bobcat, Sophia and I spent four months stalking this cat- in search of capturing a photo of a successful predation event. We encountered this cat many times and managed to snap lots of different images with this beautiful cat. But we were after a successful hunting image, where the cat captured it’s prey. We finally did get our shot, and it is easily one of my most favorite and cherished memories. The whole thing is; from 5am wake ups, to freezing cold rainy mornings, to mornings where we thought the mosquitoes were going to eat us alive, to Mari calling us, asking, when were we getting home, because Sophia had to start school, to the day we captured the image of our cat with a bird, in it’s mouth. It was all amazing memories for me... especially getting to share it all with my baby girl. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

---

#1. My all time favorite memory/moment with wildlife is easily the time I shared with orcas in New Zealand during a Sharkweek film shoot. We were scheduled to swim with orcas during the shoot, but I was not 100% convinced we were going to see them. The day of the shoot, and our encounter with the orcas is one I will never forget. When we dropped in to see them, I was watching them and they were very curious about us, so I decided to try something. I remembered with the Bimini dolphins that if you spin in the water, the dolphins will sometimes join you... so I decided to try it with the orcas and it worked. I had one of the juveniles come in to look at me and see what I was doing, then a second orca came in to check me out. It was such an incredible experience and one I will never forget. I am often asked if I ever felt threatened by the orcas and I can say with 100% certainty... never, Only excitement and fire (for lack of a better word), when I am with these animals.  They are truly special animals and I feel blessed to have been able to share time with them. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

---

WILDLIFE... I NEED WILDLIFE!

Swimming with a blue whale.

Well, it is day whatever of quarantine life. Sorry guys for not coming up with new content, or hell, even old stuff. I just have not been in the right mind for it. The lack of traveling and adventures, I think has broken me… or at least my heart. Trying to figure out our new reality, and the new world we will be stepping out into when this is all said and done, is something that has consumed my mind. 

Gonna be honest man, I am lost with what to think about the whole thing. The thing this quarantine has done is allowed us more time, for reading and watching what is happening to the world around us. I have seen so much of what is out there, and what the media is sharing… during that time I have learned a bunch, but my opinions and thoughts about what I believe this is - I am going to refrain from sharing those thoughts with you all here.  Becuase I don’t want to piss anyone off, or be called a tin foil hat guy, or hurt anyone’s feelings. So I would just rather not talk about it, other than sharing with you guys, that it is on my mind. 

I think, I will save it for those late night chats with friends, as we try to piece together what the hell this was really all about? Hopefully, it will be on a wildlife trip somewhere, far away from everything, looking for wildlife. Because whatever this time we are living through right now is, at least the memory of it, will be with us for a LONG, LONG time. 

Working out there with my boy David, adds to the fun of it.

So one of the other reasons I have been pretty quiet is, I have returned to my previous career before I turned, magazine publisher / shark guy / wildlife guide / wildlife photographer. Which is commercial construction. I have been helping my dad and brother in the company they own, and run, which is MJ Masonry. It is fun and hard work, and it keeps me busy and out under my beloved sun…and is helping me to pay the bills, which continue to come in, even though the world is closed. Go figure, the freaking bill collectors still want to be paid, despite the quarantine. 

So during this down time I have been doing a lot of soul searching, trying to figure things out. And so far… I haven’t figured out shit. I am guessing, I am like most everyone else, completely lost; trying to understand who I am, what I am, and where I am going. I am just not sure about much anymore. 

HOWEVER…

Dancing with Emma.

The one thing I am 100% certain of is this… I miss encountering wild animals in wild places! Damn, do I freaking miss being out in the wild, seeing animals.  Maybe, that is why I have been feeling lost and confused lately, I am going through wildlife withdrawals. And no amount of photo editing, or video watching is going to fix it. I NEED to see them, to smell them and feel them (not physically of course, unless it is tiger sharks), but feel their souls. Look into their eyes and just watch them. 

Maybe I am not lost at all? Maybe, I am just lonely - not for people or things, but to be reconnected with wildlife and nature. That is the one thing that this quarantine has for sure taught me. Other than my love for my family and friends, my heart and soul truly belongs to being out in nature. It remains my true passion in life, and once this thing is over, that is the first thing I am going to do… Get back outside and find some wild animals and repair my broken heart.

Thanks for reading guys, and I hope to see you out in the world somewhere, someday, very soon.

Black Bears... Behind the Scenes

My throw back memory for today is from our visit to North Carolina for black bears. This was an exploratory trip I organized with the SDM crew; Maritza, David, Sophia and I. Black bears are an animal I have dreamed of for many years. When I was doing research on places to see them, North Carolina just stood out for me, not only because of the amount of bears in the region, but also the size. They boast the biggest black bears in the World. And after seeing them, I can honestly say, this is true. These bears grow big here.

So anyway, we went out there to see what the craziness was all about, and it was amazing. Not only was the place amazing, but getting to spend time with the SDM crew out there was a lot of fun. So for this blog I am bringing you the video I created when we first went out there. and also a new one, which is a longer behind the scenes look at one of our days out there, walking the bear trails and photographing bears and what it is like when you go with us on one of these types of expeditions. It is an exciting place and I look forward to each and every time we visit NC.

Sadly we had to cancel our upcoming May trip due to the craziness. However, if I can try to get out there on my own, I think I am going to do that. LOVE being out there and around those animals. It is definitely one of my happy places.

The top video is the one I originally created when we visited North Carolina, and the lower video is a new one sharing the experience. Walking the bear trails, trying to find the bears to photograph. I truly hope you enjoy them, because they are some of my favorite videos I have ever created. I understand if you watch them on a phone, but if you can watch them on a laptop, watch it full screen, it is worth it for the views. North Carolina is a special, special place.

A few Behind the scenes images of our experience. Some of the pics were captured by Tom Harrison, our bear guide.

Sunrise and some bears feeding far in the distance.

Trail carved by bears.

This was David’s first trip with us in a long while. He was up in Playa working at the dive shop, so he hasn’t been able to travel with us.

This is where we got the inspiration for Sophia’s logo.

Sailfish Craziness in Mexico... Really Miss this trip!

Todays’s throwback video is from our 2012 sailfish expedition. We would run this trips off Isla Mujeres, Mexico. These natural predation events, are such amazing trips to run. The only problem with this trip back then, was that the sailfish showed up to these waters, during the winter season, when the weather was at it’s very worst, and the ass kicking you would get trying to find sailfish were legendary! It was brutal sometimes. Not only was it cold, but the swells and the wind were harsh.

BUT… when the magic happened… the magic happened! Some of the best underwater shows on earth happen out here. It truly was a gift from nature.

It was heart breaking for me when we had to take this off our expedition list of trips. We did it because of course, the fish were no longer there. Not like they used to be. Hopefully things will change and the sailfish will fully return to the waters off Isla Mujeres. I don’t think they are truly gone, they still see them, but the large aggregations of sailfish everywhere are not seen as often anymore. They may have followed their prey to other oceans. There is still resident sailfish that are there year round, but the massive baitballs we used to see… has net been seen for a few years. Until then, we will keep an eye on this place so that hopefully we can come back and see these animals again.

So here is today’s blast from the past. It was fun living it and being a part of the experience. Hope you enjoy.